L.A. Unified to Pay $22M to Students Who Said They Were Sexually Abused by 2 Employees

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Ronnie Lee Roman, left, and Jaime Jimenez are seen in booking photos released by Los Angeles police in 2015.

L.A. Unified to Pay $22M to Students Who Said They Were Sexually Abused by 2 Employees

Ronnie Lee Roman, left, and Jaime Jimenez are seen in booking photos released by Los Angeles police in 2015.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to pay $22 million to settle two lawsuits with 16 students who say they were molested by two coaches.

The settlement, announced Wednesday, effectively ends two civil suits: one filed by the families of nine Cahuenga Elementary School students who say they were molested by Ronnie Lee Roman and another filed on behalf of seven Franklin High School football players who accused Jaime Jimenez of sexually abusing them. Both lawsuits against the district were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2016.

The plaintiffs in the elementary school case will receive $14 million, and $8 million will be paid to those in the Jimenez case. During a closed-session meeting Aug. 21, the LAUSD Board of Education unanimously approved the settlements and voted to sue insurance companies to cover costs related to the lawsuits.

The district — the country’s second-largest school system — has been plagued by a series of cases alleging that officials have missed indications of teacher misconduct, and in some instances, continued to employ teachers who were suspected of wrongdoing.